Search for Seto
by Kitt Chaos
Summary: For no medical reason, Seto has fallen into a coma and his life signs are failing. Faced with the unthinkable, Mokuba reaches out to Yugi, who together with Yami, discerns the cause. Mokuba must now enter the Shadow Realm, alone, and recover the scattered shards of Seto's soul.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer - All things Yu-Gi-Oh! belong to Mr. Takahashi. As usual, aspects of his characters and worlds have fascinated my imagination, and this story is a result.

**Search for Seto**

**Onset**

Where do I begin? I don't know what to do. I'm just a kid, but I'm all - all that Big Brother has. Roland knew better than to keep me in the dark about Seto. I could tell the doctor disapproved of the way Roland told me precisely what was going on without trying to 'protect' me. Seto has taught me many things, but one of the most important is to face a problem honestly, with full knowledge, even if it makes you uncomfortable, in order to find a way to solve it. The only situation where my brother doesn't follow his own sound advice is with Yugi and Yami - but for whatever reason, they are his blind-spot. Maybe when I'm older, if Seto is still behaving oddly about them, I'll point it out to him, but for now, I know he won't listen to me. That is, if he _could_ listen to me.

Another lesson we learned hard and young is that tears don't solve anything - but that doesn't mean I don't... Sometimes, when I'm alone, and things are very hard... That is...

I'm certain that Seto never cries. Not ever. For his sake, I won't either - at least until I have him back and don't have to make all the decisions for both of us any more. Once everything goes back to the way it should be, and big brother is taking care of me again, maybe then I'll let myself weaken enough to...

It's been so hard! The doctors, the very top ones in each of their fields, have no answers. I can't get the image out of my mind - that morning when I went into Seto's room - and found him.

He wasn't downstairs for breakfast before I was. That was weird enough. But, as the minutes ticked by, and he didn't come down, and didn't come down, and _didn't come down_ I knew - something horrible had happened. If it were anyone else aside from my brother, it wouldn't have looked so - so _wrong_. He was in bed. Sleeping. But, Seto never sleeps that late. Even when he's sick, which is not often, he still gets up, still gets dressed, and still functions. Most of the time he even still goes to work.

He didn't wake when I called his name. He didn't wake when I tentatively touched his shoulder. He didn't wake when I shook his shoulder, rocking him back and forth on his bed. He didn't wake when Roland came into the room, alerted by how my voice got louder and louder. He didn't wake when Roland grabbed me and pulled me away - uselessly screaming Big Brother's name.

He hasn't wakened since that day. The doctors have no idea what is wrong with him. He didn't suffer any sort of an injury. There's no bacteria, virus, parasite, infection, allergy, or any other biological reason for him to be the way he is. I've had all the tests done - the best money can buy. I've had them redone, and the results double-checked, triple-checked even, by other specialists. There is absolutely no reason for Seto to be in the 'profound' coma he's in. There is absolutely no reason why his brain activity should be slowing down, either. His 'higher order' brain functions are 'depressed'. Roland didn't sugar-coat it when he explained what that meant. Seto's brain is shutting down, and the doctors don't know why. In another day, maybe two, he won't be able to breathe on his own. I can tell the doctors are already thinking it would be best if we don't put him on a ventilator - which would mean that once his body stops breathing on its own, he'd just - die.

I'm only thirteen. I shouldn't have to make decisions like this - but I won't let anyone else make this decision, either. I'd rather not make the decision at all. I'd rather that Seto wake up, open his eyes, and glare at me, wondering why I let him sleep so late. He would, you know. Because, he never cries. He gets - cranky - instead.

I didn't know where else to turn. I know it annoys Seto when I go to Yugi, but, whenever Seto's not there - or he's the one in trouble, Yugi has always helped. Always. It might make Seto very cranky that I involved 'Motou' again, but I'll be glad to have him back and in charge, even if he's permanently cranky because of it. I knocked four times on the door before my nerve failed. What am I going to do if Grandpa answered? Stupid! Just ask to see Yugi. Why am I so...

Yugi answered, took one look at my face, and dragged me through the door. He puttered around the kitchen making tea and something for me to eat. I guess I looked as awful as I felt. No, there's no way I did. There's no way I could. Still, it gave me a chance to tell everything to Yugi since he wasn't staring at me with some frightfully keen sympathy while I talked. When I was finished he sat down at the table, and shoved a steaming cup of tea, and a sandwich at me.

"Isn't this where you are going to tell me 'it will be okay'?" I asked.

"I could, if you think it would help make you feel better, but you know that they would just be words. To make you feel better," Yugi said. That's one of the things I liked so much about him. Yes, he's cheerful where Seto is dour, but under it all, they have more things like each other than not. Cheerful optimism isn't going to help my brother. If anything can, if it's not already too late, it's the open-eyed clear thinking that Yugi seemed to specialize in. He's saved the world a few times. I think that saving my brother, if Seto can still be saved, isn't beyond his abilities. "That's not to say I can't do something, other than tell you useless words, to help. If there's nothing medically wrong with Seto, than is might be something magical."

I didn't scoff. Seto might be uncomfortable admitting magic exists, but I am not. I've seen way too many things to not believe, anymore. Like this.

Yugi had stopped being so kindly. Rather, he was still kindly, but it's wrapped in an armor of fierceness. I've seen this before. When Yugi behaves like this, we've taken to calling him 'Yami'. Yami is less considerate than Yugi is. Seto told me once that he thought Yami was slightly easier to duel against than Yugi, simply because it was much easier to get him to react - pulling him off-balance. But, that instinctive reactiveness is what I so desperately need right now. I think Yugi realized that, and that's why Yami faced me now.

"Our problem is simple - Kaiba needs to stop worrying you needlessly and wake up. I think Yugi is right and that magic must somehow be involved. Since Yugi and I are the resident experts on all things strange and magical, it falls to us to determine what happened to your big brother, figure out how to undo it, determine who did this to him in the first place, and make that person pay. Right?"

"What can I do to help?"

The hard expression in Yami's eyes softened, making him look - just a little - like Yugi. His words belied the gentle expression. "You know that Kaiba is my bitter rival?" I nodded. "No one has the right to take that away from me. A trespass against my rival is a trespass against me!"

Maybe I'm asking for too much this time. It didn't sound as if Yami, and by extension, Yugi, were willing to help after all. I have no where else to turn if they...

"Mokuba." My name was a command, for me to pay attention. "I want Kaiba - Seto - back, and awake, and bitching about things in his usual way," Yami winked at me. "nearly as much as you do. If magic is involved, we will get to the bottom of it and - help Kaiba - somehow."

I nodded. It was all I could do. I didn't want to trust my voice at that moment. Yugi's a friend. Yami's a friend. Both of me, and even though Big Brother will never admit it - out loud - of Seto, too. If anyone could figure out what happened, if it is something to do with magic, or ancient destinies, or whatever other mystic weirdness it could be, it will be these two.

"For now, go nap on the couch. Even if you don't sleep." He forestalled my protest by talking over me. "A least rest and close your eyes. You haven't slept, and it shows. It will take Yugi and me some time, and we're just going to be staring at the Puzzle as far as you will be able to tell, so take the chance to catch up on your sleep. Perhaps Kaiba will need your help, and if you are too tired, what sort of help can you be?"

I stretched out, well for me it was a stretch, on the couch, fell asleep, and dreamed. I don't know exactly what my dreams were of, except that I was sad and near-panic when I woke up.

* * *

Author's note -

The beginning of this story has been languishing on my hard drive for years. Trying to kick-start Seto's co-operation in Plushi-oh! made me take a recent look at it, and got the plot rolling again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Diagnosis**

It took me a minute to realize where I was and remember the events that brought me here when I opened my eyes. "Good, you are awake. We just finished," Yami said.

I sat up at that. "Did you find anything out? Do you know what happened?" I asked.

"We think so. It is magical in origin - or at least spiritual." Yami replied. "Even if you, or Seto, don't believe in such things."

"I - I do." I said softly. "Ever since Pegasus trapped me in that Soul Prison card. I think Big Brother is..." No, I would never admit what I suspected about his thoughts on the matter of magic to Yami, or Yugi, no matter how much of a friend to me they were. It might have been seen as a sign of weakness in my brother. That was how things worked between us. Each of us had the other's back, always. I'm too short and young and maybe too naive to be of much help to Seto, but the least I could do is keep his confidences, even if they are unspoken, in trust. "Is it enough, that I believe in magic even if Big Brother doesn't?"

Yami smiled slightly and nodded. "It most certainly is. It falls to you, Mokuba, to save your brother."

"Of course." I nodded. "But, what do I have to do? And, can you tell me what's happened? Why did this happen to Seto?"

Yami unexpectedly dropped my gaze. "There are very, very few people I will ever utter these words to. But even though it is hard, I will when it is the right thing to do. Kaiba is like this, his soul sundered and his life ebbing away as a result, because of me. I am sorry, Mokuba. What happened to your brother is my fault."

I'm not sure what happened as a towering wash of anger flooded over me, but the next thing I knew, Yami had a hold of my wrists and was repeating my name over and over evidently trying to snap me out of something. "You...!" I said. I wanted to hit him as hard as possible with my words, because he had trapped my wrists. There wasn't a word, curse, swear or otherwise, vile enough to contain what I wanted to call him.

"Mokuba, good, you are hearing me and responding again. You have every right to be furious at me, but your brother does not have much time. You and I can discuss things when this is all over, but for now - do I have your word you won't attack Yugi?"

"Attack? Why would I attack anybody? I'm too small to do any good," I said bitterly. As always, I'm too small and too weak. It was enough that I wanted to cry, but I didn't. Tears never did any good, even if I wanted to cry just to show my frustration with how helpless I was. Screaming about it wouldn't do any good either, but that's the other thing I wanted to do. It was too close to the surface, this tide of helplessness. I couldn't hold it back, I had to do something or say something... "DAMMIT!"

My wrists were let go. I looked up and realized that Yugi's in front of me again. "Yeah, isn't it a pain to be so much shorter than the rest of the world?" Yugi smiled at me. "It's gotta be worse for you since Seto's so freakin' tall. At least Grandpa is close to my size, so things around here aren't so bad." Yugi's eyes went a bit unfocused. It was so quick I'm not sure I even saw it, but then he said, "Yami wants you to convince him you are 'too small and helpless' in a day or two when the black eye you gave us shows up."

Geez. I'd hit him? I knew full well that hitting Yami would hurt Yugi in the long run, they sort of are and are not the same person at the same time, but even I know they somehow shared one body between them. What happened to one affected the other. "Yugi, I'm sorry..."

"Apology accepted. You didn't hit me, really, you know. Or I know you weren't trying to hit me. It comes with the territory, as they say." Yugi grinned, then his expression got serious. "But we really don't have time for that."

"Yeah, I know. What did Yami mean that what happened to Seto is his fault?" I demanded.

"Mokuba, do you remember the mind crush that Seto suffered?"

How could I forget? I was there when it happened - Seto nearly winning that duel, then Yami somehow doing the impossible and summoning Exodia to defeat all three of Seto's Blue-Eyes White Dragons at the same time... I have never seen power such as that before in a duel, or in real life, and hadn't seen such power since. Then, from across the dueling arena, Yami shouting at Seto and then... Big Brother slumped over his console, his eyes blank and...

That had been a horrible time, just like now. But I knew that Seto would come back from that - Yami had said as much. Even then, I somehow knew that Yami was under all the shouting he and Seto did, a friend. From what Yami said as the energy or magic or whatever it was did whatever it did to 'mind crush' my brother, I knew that Seto wasn't so evil he couldn't rebuild and return. But now, there hadn't been another mind crush, or...?

"Yugi... Yami didn't..." I shook my head. "Why would Yami do that to Seto _again_?"

"NO! No, Yami didn't do anything like that! But, we think that the first mind crush, despite the ultimately good effect it had on your brother, may have - weakened him somehow, and other things have made him vulnerable. Don't get mad at me, but... Well, you've been kidnapped a bunch of times. That has the effect of making you more aware of things, like where the doors are to escape, and how many people are around you, and what they think about your brother, right? So you don't get snatched again?"

Yes, it had, though it seemed such a sense didn't help keep me from getting 'snatched' pretty often. It frustrated me no end that...

"Mokuba, I'm really sorry to have to bring that up, but it was to help you realize what we discovered about Seto. Yami and I hadn't realized it ourselves, because well, Seto_ is _Seto, and one just doesn't think of him as vulnerable or weak..."

I had to smile at Yugi's observation.

Yugi smiled back at me. "Yeah, he's pretty impressive that way. But, Seto _does_ have a weakness. Just as you've been kidnapped multiple times, he's suffered many mystical assaults, starting with Yami's mind crush. Think about it. After that his soul was captured and contained within one of Pegasus' Prison cards like yours was, then he was tricked by the Big Five into the virtual world program and trapped there, and part of Noah's virtual world, and the Orichalcos situation, and..."

"I know how many times Big Brother has nearly lost his soul," I said. Well, I did, better than anyone. Every time something happened like that to my big brother, it felt as if I'd lost a piece of my soul too, worrying over him.

Yugi nodded. "We know that Seto doesn't believe in his past life in ancient Egypt, but that, combined with Yami's mind crush so long ago, and everything that has happened since - well, it seems the Shadow Realm has come to acquire a taste for your brother's soul."

Uhm... "What?!"

"That's what our research seemed to indicate. I guess the Shadow Realm is where people's displaced souls go most often, even if they aren't aware of it at the time. We weren't able to sense Seto - not really. But it was as if we could sense pieces of him - and all those pieces seem to be in the Shadow Realm."

"So he's..." I stopped. I might believe in mystical things where my brother scoffed at them, but still. But still nothing. I would do whatever it took to save him. "What do I have to do?"

"It's dangerous. I know that won't stop you, but I still wish I knew Seto well enough that I could go in your place. No one knows Seto well enough but you, Mokuba. You have to go into the Shadow Realm, track down, and collect all the pieces of Seto's soul that you find. You have to be quick about it, too. Yami and I can send you there with the power of the Millennium Puzzle, and we can protect you somewhat from the dark energy of the Shadow Realm, but only for a short time. Hours, at most."

I nodded. "However long you can give me."

"We are going to do our best to set you in the Shadow Realm nearest to the greatest concentration of the soul energy we believe to be Seto's, and we are going to try to align you with that soul energy. Uhm, all that means is that you should be seeing things in a way that somehow makes sense to Seto. We aren't really sure what you will have to do once you get there, but it's important not to get distracted from your purpose - you are trying to recover the pieces of Seto's scattered soul." Yugi's eyes seemed troubled. "It's a big task. I know you can do it - I just wish one of us could somehow come with you."

I shook my head. "No, it's better if you don't. Even if his soul is scattered, I'm sure Big Brother would have... Well, would have some power to prevent you from seeing him that way. Uhm, weak, that is."

Yugi smiled. "I get it. Yeah, he would hate for me to see him in such a state, and that would prevent me from helping him. So it has to be you - Seto won't let anyone else help him. Are you okay with that?"

For an answer, I stood as tall as I could, put my hands on my hips in the determined gesture I'd seen so often from my brother, narrowed my eyes and said, "Of course! Do not doubt my ability in this matter."

"All right, then. Close your eyes. You might feel a bit dizzy, but that will pass."

What I didn't expect was to feel strong hands take hold of my head on either side. There was a strange sort of pressure, not as if the hands were pushing against my head, exactly, but as if something in my head was pushing against them. It was such a weird feeling, I opened my eyes to ask Yugi what was going on.

Yugi had changed with Yami again. Yami, wearing a terrible expression I had never seen held my head firmly between his hands. A strange eye-like symbol, that I remember Seto once called an udjat, glowed in gold on Yami's forehead, and shocking gold light spilled from his eyes. Wait, no I've seen this very same expression on Yami's face before, when Seto had been mind crushed. I turned my head slightly against Yami's hold. Was that what they had to do to send me to Seto? Mind crush me?!

That awful golden-eyed gaze turned down to focus on me. Though he looked unearthly, and his voice rang with an imperative to obey and not question, there was warmth in the tone. "Don't look, Mokuba, but don't worry. For you, my Millennium magic holds no threat. Yugi and I will keep you safe while your spirit travels in the Shadow Realm to find your brother. Trust us - trust me - and close your eyes."

Only one thing scared me more than Yami did at that moment, but that one thing impelled me to follow Yami's command. My fear of losing Seto was even stronger than my fear of the power and magic infusing Yami with their awful might. I closed my eyes to shut the terrible image away.

"Good. Endure another moment more and you will open your eyes in the Shadow Realm. You are held in the magic of the Millennium Puzzle, and that should protect you, but the true danger of the Shadow Realm is what it can do to a weak mind. Focus on your mission, Mokuba, focus on finding your brother and helping him, and your mind will not weaken to the point where the Shadow Realm can harm you. We will help you stay there as long as we can, but there is a limit to our strength. Make haste!"

A flash of gold sparked across my mind, surprising me into opening my eyes again. "I'm sorry, Yami, I..."

I was outside. Yami was nowhere to be seen. Movement in the air above me caught my eye. I watched as dark curtains of light writhed across the sky. Dark curtains of light? This must be the Shadow Realm. So now what do I do?

* * *

Author's note -

Clearly Mokuba is the hero in this story. I hope no one minds. Oh, and I sort of forgot to mention where this story is and how it relates in the Yugioh time-line. Post-canon, post-movie even. As usual for me, Yami managed to return from the afterlife he earned, because hanging out with Yugi and his friends is more interesting. In this version of that adjustment to canon, Yami is once again sharing in Yugi's life (as if Yugi would say no) and they somehow regained the Millennium Puzzle.


	3. Chapter 3

**Discovery**

Gold gleamed at my feet. I was in the middle of a golden pathway. I felt - safe, somehow, like someone was watching over me with a kindly regard. I slowly walked toward the edge of the path, pacing the width as I did so. I guessed it to be about six feet wide. Gloomy thoughts, the primary one being worry for Seto, gathered in my mind as I got close to the path's edge. I got it. The golden path must be what Yami meant when he said he and Yugi would do their best to keep me safe in the Shadow Realm. I pivoted around, taking care not to step off of the path while I did so. Behind me the path disappeared into a thick mist that seemed to swallow it up. Ahead, it climbed up a low hill and disappeared on the other side. I didn't want to be unable to see where I was going, so I decided to climb the hill myself.

On the other side, I found a nasty surprise. In the middle of the path, completely blocking my way forward, a giant obstacle waited for me. Vorse Raider loomed impossibly tall. He planted his left foot firmly on the ground then charged directly at me.

Big Brother would have done something. Dropped into a balanced crouch so he could use Vorse Raider's own momentum to fling the monster over his back, or sweep his leg and trip it, but... I didn't have that skill. I wasn't Big Brother. I froze, and watched in horror as the wicked, sharp blade swung at me in a killing arc. _I'm so sorry! I couldn't do anything to save you, Seto!_ Tears escaped my closed eyes, and...

"Mokuba."

That was Seto's voice! I opened my eyes in surprise at my name, and felt like falling down. Vorse Raider was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it was Seto's home office. He was at his computer, and I - well, someone who looked like me, was across the room at the secretary's desk. I looked down at myself upon seeing my doppelganger. I could see the floor through my own body. Was I a ghost?

"I wonder what Motou did with the prize money from Duelist Kingdom. The old man still runs that game store so he didn't use it to help his family. I would have thought..." Seto's voice petered out and keys clicked rapidly under his fingers.

I dimly remembered this conversation. Seto was helping me with some project. School? No, I recalled it. I drifted across the room to look over the solid Mokuba's shoulder at the computer screen. Sure enough, the Mokuba who belonged in this memory was in the midst of programming a presentation for Kaiba Corporation. Yes, that had been it. I had been prepping for my first solo presentation to the Kaiba Corp. executives and Seto had offered his help.

"Hmph. He gave the prize to that undisciplined idiot," Seto murmured. The Mokuba of the memory only sort of listened to his big brother, but I hung on every word. Maybe this was a clue as to how to help Seto recover. "What did Wheeler do with it?"

I floated over toward Seto. My heart ached to see him awake and moving, my the deepest wish for over a week now. It was only a memory, and I wasn't really here, or not in a way that Big Brother could sense, but it was still disappointing that he never even looked up. Seto has gone very, very still, and his hands had paused mid-keystroke. I thought for a moment that the memory had frozen, except Seto took in a deep, sharp breath, almost as if he'd been hit.

"I would have done the same thing," Seto whispered.

I looked past Seto's shoulder at the computer screen. It took a moment for me to understand what Seto had found (my brother's ability to hack information was practically magical in its own right as far as I'm concerned) but I realized that Seto had just discovered that Joey Wheeler had used the entire Duelist Kingdom prize money Yugi had given him to pay for an operation for his sister Serenity.

Vorse Raider's blade finished passing through my torso. I blinked. There was no pain and no blood. "Joey?" I wondered aloud. Big Brother had been interested in something to do with Joey Wheeler? The Duel Monster stared down at me for a long moment, then closed his eyes. I blinked against a brilliant flash, opening my eyes to find Vorse Raider, as a normal Duel Monster card, floating in the air in front of me. I reached out to touch the card, wondering what kept it in the air, and it fluttered to the ground at my feet. I picked it up, and it suddenly hit me - the memory had shown me the truth. This semi-powerful card in some way represented Joey Wheeler to Seto - ever since my big brother discovered what Joey had done with the fortune from Duelist Kingdom.

"Yes, that would have earned Big Brother's respect," I said aloud. "Not that he will ever admit it to anyone!"

I didn't even see which Duel Monster attacked me next. It was really hard to tell time in the Shadow Realm, so it seemed as it if were just minutes later, and yet it also seemed as if I'd been walking on the protected golden path for hours. I was trying to remember all the cards in Seto's dueling deck, and wondering if I would have to collect them all, when I was thrown into what had to be another of Seto's memories.

This time it wasn't a single linear memory as it had been with Vorse Raider. And this time I, or rather a past memory version of me, wasn't present either. Seto was at his desk at work, looking over a personnel file on his computer. Then, he was playing golf against executives from his own company. The scene shifted and he was reviewing files on his laptop, then his home computer, and then his work computer, one after the other... He was having pointed discussions with executives. The flashes of memory were quick, and I felt a bit dizzy. These memories were important to Seto, they meant something important to Big Brother and I had to figure it out and understand it to help. I ignored the changes in the suit that Seto wore in each memory snippet and focused on Seto's face. I was the best at deciphering Big Brother's expressions. Most people seemed to think that Seto was expressionless, but I knew better. Distaste. Seto didn't sneer openly, as he so often did while dueling (which was a dueling tactic to take others off their game) but he felt - disdain. Disliking. A sense of resignation. There was no sense of tolerance, or the fierce joy of competiveness, and no scenes of dueling, so this memory, or series of memories, had nothing to do with Yugi or Duel Monsters.

I switched my attention back to the others in the fast-paced memory stream. After a moment of watching, I knew who was represented by the Duel Monster that attacked me, even if I still didn't know which one it was.

"These are your feelings about the Big Five, aren't they, Seto?" I said aloud.

The memory stream stopped. I would have jumped back from the being holding me, but his arms were completely wrapped around my shoulders. A mad clown face gibbered directly at me before the dazzling flash of light turned it into a floating Duel Monster card. I laughed. The card's legend said something about Saggi performing strange moves. It fit - both with the weird hug the Dark Clown used to 'attack' me, and with how the Big Five had operated before Seto defeated them.

"Am I going to have to figure out your entire deck while being attacked by all your cards, Big Brother?" I asked aloud. Yeah, the 'attacks' hadn't actually hit or at least they hadn't hurt, and didn't damage me, but they were still startling, and suddenly getting thrown into Seto's memories and trying to figure out what they mean - it's bound to get harder from here. What happened if I couldn't figure the significance out? Yugi said there's only so long he and Yami can keep me here... What happened if I failed?

I nearly found out with the very next monster. Lord of Dragons stood on the path in front of me. He just stood there looking at me. He didn't try to attack me. I wracked my brain trying to figure out what this might mean to Big Brother. It had to be one of his memory cards - not a 'real' Duel Monster, because it was on the golden path, but it didn't do anything - just watched. It wasn't until a Man Eater Bug suddenly flipped itself over and glared evilly at me that he did anything. He stepped between us. Only then did I realize that the Man Eater Bug was not on the path - it had to be part of the normal Shadow Realm. And flipping over from its back - that mirrored the special effect of the card in the game. And the Lord of Dragons prevents card effects from working on - wait. Dragons. I'm not a dragon, so it should have worked... But, this Lord of Dragons wasn't the Duel Monster. It's how part of Seto's soul manifested in the Shadow Realm, and it probably held memories. I had to figure out how to understand what this Duel Monster meant to Seto in order to gather it.

"Please, I don't understand. Big Brother, I need more information. I don't know what this means to you. Protection, I got that part but..." I stepped closer to the quiet Duel Monster. Lord of Dragons was my favorite card. Seto knew that. Could this card be...? "Is it me? Seto, is this card how you see me?" That would have been pretty cool, actually, since the Lord of Dragons helps protect dragons from other card effects.

The Lord of Dragons shook his head and stepped closer. I cringed. None of the attacks had hurt, but it hadn't been easy to stand still. I hadn't realized I had closed my eyes until I opened them a crack because nothing happened. The Lord of Dragons was only a step away, and he was holding his hand out, almost as if for a handshake. I reached forward, and took his hand.

It was a handshake. I witnessed another of Seto's memories as Seto shook a man's hand. Gozaburo Kaiba stood to one side. "It is his duty to guard you, Seto. Remember, as a Kaiba, there are many who hate you and would try to hurt you. Roland's duty is to protect you from those people, to the fullest extent of his capabilities."

"Will you take a bullet for me?" Seto appeared so young in this memory, looking up at Roland, even though now he was taller than his bodyguard.

"If it comes to that, yes, but a good bodyguard never lets the danger escalate that far, and I am a _very_ good bodyguard."

"Good enough to protect my brother, too?" Seto asked.

"That's not part of...!" Gozaburo sputtered.

"Of course," Roland replied.

"Good. This bodyguard arrangement is acceptable to me," Seto told Gozaburo.

"Roland," I said softly, announcing my discovery. "Lord of Dragons is your feelings about Roland." The flash turned the Duel Monster into his card in my hand. I could see now why the card didn't 'attack' me. This was a strange situation, but according to Big Brother's feelings there's no way that Roland would ever attack me, so the Duel Monster representing that part of Seto's feelings wouldn't attack me, either.

Not that other Duel Monster soul shards had the same restriction, as most of the rest 'attacked' me to throw me into the memory stream so I could understand what they represented. Dragon Seeker, with the special effect of destroying face up dragons represented how Seto viewed school.

It got a bit harder, as I went along. Kaiser Sea Horse stumped me for a bit, until I realized that the Duel Monster, with its ability to rapidly summon a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, represented the abstract concept of 'power' to Big Brother.

Luster Dragon took me by surprise. It attacked me, and the memory stream showed me duels, nothing but duels. I thought it was simply 'dueling' at first, but the stream didn't stop when I announced it, as the others had when I figured out what each one meant. I looked more carefully and realized that they were all duels with Yugi. Yugi only - not Yami. "Does Luster Dragon represent your feelings toward Yugi, then, Big Brother?" The memories stopped and the Duel Monster flashed into his card. "Huh," I said as I plucked the card from its spot floating in the air. "You gave Yugi a dragon card, Seto. I wonder if you meant to do that?"

* * *

Author's note -

Perhaps a bit of Pokemon wound up in the mix, since Mokuba wonders if he's 'gotta find them all'.


	4. Chapter 4

**Aid**

I noticed a figure near the margin of a stand of shadow-trees on the path ahead of me. The path that seemed to be my route of safety wound directly next to the figure, so it might be the next piece of my brother's soul that I need to find. I couldn't help but tense up. True, so far none of the encounters have hurt me, but being attacked by giant Duel Monsters made me jumpy. Wait. The Duel Monsters I've gathered somehow embody parts of Seto's soul. Almost all of them seem to react first, and violently at that, instead of anything else. If that's how Seto sees the world, and I have to admit I know it is, that's why he's so cranky, and finds it so hard to trust anyone. I just have to keep reminding myself that these Duel Monsters aren't real - they are a way for me to find and collect the pieces of Seto's soul here in the Shadow Realm. Of course, the fact that the path that Yugi and Yami made for me runs near the new figure doesn't necessarily mean that it is part of Seto's soul... I still have to be careful.

Uhm... Yeah. Now I'm not sure what to do...

I'm near enough to see who the new figure is, and I can guarantee this one has nothing to do with Seto in any way, shape, or form. All of the Duel Monsters that represent pieces of Seto's soul have been cards from his deck, and this one certainly isn't. Strange, I've never seen a Duel Monster sit down before - I didn't know they could, but that's what Dark Magician is doing - sitting cross-legged on the ground just next to the protected path. I can't think of any reason why he'd attack me, but it's still probably best to maybe scoot over to the far side of the path from him, and not disturb him - although it would be rude to just walk by and not greet him - oh, dear, how do I handle this?

"Well met, young Kaiba," Dark Magician spoke up, resolving that dilemma.

"Uhm, Dark Magician, hi. Uhm, nice day, isn't it?" Yeah, the normal pleasantries sound really stupid here in the Shadow Realm.

For an answer Dark Magician tilted his head a little to gaze past the peak of his helmet at the sky. "Not particularly, no. But then it never is in the Shadow Realm."

"Okay, I guess you're right. I really hate to have to dash off, but I'm on an urgent errand, and I..."

Dark Magician chuckled a little. "Be at your ease, Mokuba. I know that your 'errand' is not so casual as that word makes it seem, and despite how odd it is, I am part of the solution."

"You - you know?!"

"I did not wish to alarm you by standing when you first encountered me, but..." Dark Magician unbent his legs while floating upward at the same time to stand up all without having to use his hands to leverage from the ground as a normal person would. Once he was on his feet again, I realized that I had been seeing him eye to eye while he was seated. With him looming over me now, I sort of wanted to take a step backward, but didn't. "I was meditating upon magical matters earlier when I felt a tremor through the weave of magic touching upon the Shadow Realm. After the tremor passed, I was startled to find a sliver of a displaced spirit hovering near me. I have experience in such matters, and it did not take long for my spirit magic to discern the nature and purpose of the sliver, and from that to deduce what had happened. Before I could alert my masters to what I discovered, I sensed their magic seeking answers here in the Shadow Realm, then your presence, and your actions on your 'urgent errand'. Now that you have collected enough of the pieces of Seto's soul, I am able to offer my help."

"Wow. You really do know what's going on!" I said. "But, what do you mean I've collected enough, and you - want to help?"

"Aside from the sliver that was attached to me, any part of the displaced soul that I encountered fled from my approach. Sensing what my masters had done in sending you here, I used that effect to 'herd' the pieces of soul toward the protected path, to make it easier for you to gather them. The last piece I approached did not flee, by which I intuit you have collected enough of the rest to be able to handle the most important pieces, so now I am able to offer my help to you directly."

"You've been - helping me? Why?"

"Here." Dark Magician handed me a card, Monster Reborn. "This is the shape the sliver of soul attached to me assumed. I presume that you know of Priest Seto in the past?" I nodded. I knew Big Brother didn't like admitting to it, but I'd found out. "This piece of Seto's soul is so conflicted that it couldn't manifest as a Duel Monster as the rest did, so it assumed the shape of a spell card. As I am a spellcaster, that card seemed drawn toward me. I believe that some part of Seto recognizes that Yami of today is Atem of the past, and perhaps even recognizes that I had once been part of that ancient past, too, which is why it manifested before me. As to what that means, it is for Seto to decide for himself. I believe you have gathered enough of Seto's soul together that with me by your side, you should be able to leave the protected pathway and seek the last three pieces. They refuse to be herded."

"Three," I said. I knew what that meant. I looked at the Dark Magician. He's powerful, and willing to help, but I know who the last three pieces are going to be. "The Blue-Eyes White Dragons." I whispered. I pulled my arms around my shoulders and shivered. It's Seto, and the Shadow Realm, and the parts of his soul appearing as Duel Monsters, so of course it's the Blue-Eyes, but, "I don't want to be attacked by even _one_ Blue-Eyes!" I wailed.

"Mokuba," Dark Magician said my name in such a way I had to look up into his face. "There's no way a Blue-Eyes White Dragon - that is ultimately a manifestation of part of your big brother's soul - would ever attack you." He smiled gravely and shook his head slightly, as if disappointed in my lack of faith in the matter. "I doubt even the real Blue-Eyes White Dragons would ever attack you!" he said, mostly under his breath.

Dark Magician was right - the first Blue-Eyes White Dragon encountered brought its head down and lowered it so it could gaze directly at me. Though there was no physical contact between us, as had been with every other Duel Monster I gathered, my awareness whirled away into the land of Seto's memories. Big Brother was small, younger than I have ever seen before, in fact, younger than he was before I was born. A thrill shot through my heart - I'm witnessing a memory from before my own lifetime! I've never seen the room he's in, but I could tell just by looking at it, that it's what Seto's bedroom looked like when he was so young. There were models of jets hanging from the ceiling, and posters of dragons on the walls. Seto turned his head at the sound of two knocks on the open door and smiled. It was a happy smile with no shadows around his eyes. I wished Big Brother would smile like that more often!

"Did you have a good birthday, Seto?" The woman at the door swept into the room. She's tall, and graceful, and has the loveliest voice I've ever heard.

Seto nodded eagerly. "The best, Mom! Well, almost. I wish Dad was here, too."

Mom. This woman is our mother. I've never even seen a picture of her before. Seto tried once to describe her to me, but, it had been painful for him to force himself to try to remember, so I never asked again.

"Aw, sweetie, he didn't forget. He wishes he didn't have to be out of town on a business trip, but he didn't forget." The woman - our mom - brought a package out from behind her back. "He sent you a birthday gift."

"Can I open it now? It's still my birthday," Seto said.

"Of course. Then, off to bed, and we can call your father tomorrow to thank him."

"Will it be okay?" Seto asked. "To wait until tomorrow?"

"Your dad is asleep right now, and about to wake up. Remember? The days are a bit backward because he's around the world from us right now. It will be okay to wait. He'd be grumbly if we woke him now." The woman winked at child Seto.

I bet that's why she waited until right before bed to give it to Seto. Wow, it's so strange to think that once Big Brother was so - considerate and thoughtful. Well, he still is, but when he was younger it was easier to see. As adorable as Seto is (and he really is, his eyes are just as blue as they are now, but enormous in his rounded, child-sized face, and his hair is almost as messy as mine!) I couldn't keep my eyes off our mom.

Maybe she wasn't really this beautiful. This is a memory of her, from Seto's perspective, and it's obvious he loved her. Maybe she wasn't so graceful, and maybe her voice wasn't so full of lilt and laughter, but...

In Seto's memory this is how she was. He couldn't describe her to me when I asked, and the family that we no longer recognize since they left us at the orphanage and our last name changed to Kaiba had claimed to have no photographs of her, so... I decided then and there this is how she is to me. I hope Seto doesn't mind that his memories of her will become my vision of her, my mental photograph of what my mother looked like, and how she sounded.

"Mom! It's a dragon! How did Dad know?" Seto's voice was happy.

"Your father might have to travel, a lot, because of business, but he still knows his son." Mom smiled at Seto. "Now it is time for my young dragon to bed himself down for the night and get some sleep."

I watched as Mom let Seto kiss her cheek, caught him in a hug, and eased him under his covers. She tousled his hair as she leaned over to kiss his forehead. "Sweet dreams, Seto."

"Good night, Mom," Seto replied.

"Mom." I barely uttered the word, but it was enough to let this piece of Seto's soul know that I recognize what it represented. The memory faded and the reality of the Shadow Realm returned. I felt like crying at the loss. To have had a chance to see my mother, when I never had that chance before...

"She must have been a remarkable woman to have left such an impression on Seto," Dark Magician said quietly.

"You - saw that?!" Oh, no! Big Brother would never stand for it if the Dark Magician knew the secrets that lived so deep in his soul.

"I saw faint and shifting images and did not realize what they were until you spoke. I infer that your mother meant a great deal to Seto because the shard of his soul containing those memories incarnated in the Shadow Realm as a Blue-Eyes White Dragon," Dark Magician replied.

"Is that the truth or a convenient thing to tell a child?" I wondered aloud with a great deal of suspicion.

"It is the truth, though perhaps I am seeing things that Seto would rather I not know about. Not as clearly or as certainly as you, but it cannot be helped. Rest assured, young Mokuba, and if needed assure your brother as well, that what I see in my capacity as a spirit sorcerer is held in the strictest confidence. No one, not even my masters, can compel me to break that trust. In this matter, I am not a Duel Monster. It is as if Seto were my patient, and I, his doctor."

It was a strange analogy, but it worked. Even if Dark Magician discovered things about Seto that Big Brother would rather he didn't, he wouldn't talk about it, not even to Yami and Yugi. But, if he was Seto's 'doctor'... "What does that make me?" I asked. "Your assistant?"

Dark Magician smiled down at me. "Perhaps my comparison is inaccurate. We are both Seto's doctors, maybe. Or, as you are the one gathering the pieces together, and I am merely helping you, maybe you are the active part, the medicine to help make Seto whole once more." He nodded toward where the card, a Blue-Eyes White Dragon card, floated in the air before me.

"So, the first Blue-Eyes is Seto's feelings about Mom," I said aloud. "I wish I could have seen more." But, I admitted to myself, that one scene I did witness, was precious. I now had a memory, borrowed from Seto but I'm sure he wouldn't mind, to go along with the concept of 'Mom'.

"Yes," Dark Magician replied, but his attention seemed distracted.

"Any idea where we go next?" The golden path was far behind us. I turned my head and couldn't even see it anymore. None of the creatures of the Shadow Realm dared to approach too close, evidently they respected - or feared - Dark Magician enough to keep their distance.

"It's faint, so I think it is far away. Young one, I fear that time grows short. If you allow me to carry you, we will find the next piece more quickly," Dark Magician said.

I winced. I hated to be carried. I know I'm short, and people like Seto have to slow down to let me keep up (when he remembers I can't keep up at his normal pace that is) and I'm still technically a child, but I still hated to be carried.

"Does it help you to agree if I tell you that I must fly if we are to be quick enough to help?" Dark Magician said. "I would have to carry anyone, regardless of his stature."

"Heck yeah! You can fly?!"

Dark Magician leaned over to scoop me up into one arm, and I realized, again, that he's even taller than Big Brother. "One of these days, one of you duelists is going to recall that I am a magician, capable of many magic things, and, and..."

I grinned. "Wait a minute. Are you at a loss for words?" Dark Magician nodded. "Let's see, if that day comes I'm going to bet it would shock you enough to curve your helmet backwards?" I reached up and tapped the forward-curving tip of it. Dark Magician rolled his eyes and laughed.

"That will do. Yes, it would curve my helmet backwards if one of you duelists remembered that I am capable of magic aside from that of the game of Duel Monsters."

He'd said it twice. He considered me a duelist, along with Big Brother, and Yugi, and Joey... Maybe Dark Magician considered everyone who played a duelist, even the kids who never made it to the qualifying rounds of Kaiba Corporation tournaments, but it still made me feel less like a little kid that Dark Magician said I was a duelist. I might have enjoyed the flight through the Shadow Realm if the place weren't quite so dark and frightening. It was hard to tell how high we were from the ground, or even to recognize any feature between the dark and shifting shadows that seemed to be everywhere.

"Look!" Dark Magician pointed outward toward where a mid-air volcano seemed to be erupting sideways.

"Er..." I said uncertainly. "We are going around that, right?"

"What? No, look next to it."

A gleam of white caught my eye. "It's another Blue-Eyes!"

"Indeed it is. Shall we find out which of Seto's memories this dragon holds?"

I looked for a place to land. This part of the Shadow Realm seemed really inhospitable, even for the Shadow Realm.

"We will meet it in the air. Now that I am aware of how the effect works, I can withdraw from it. That way I can keep you safe while you encounter it, and reassure both you and Seto that I am not gaining information that would make him uncomfortable in the future. I will only interfere if you need me," Dark Magician said.

I look at his face. He's got blue eyes. Not like the blue of the dragon, and it's even a different blue from Seto's. I've seen the Dark Magician's blue eyes glaring from the field at an enemy, and actually fairly often at Seto - as if Dark Magician, game hologram that he was (or so I'd thought) was aware of Seto as the player opposing his player and was trying to psych him out. He's not glaring now. His expression is actually rather similar to Roland's in some way. Mild, but confident. Instantly I know that he's not going to let anything happen to me, no matter if I'm not quite aware what's going on here in the Shadow Realm, once Seto's memory world takes over.

"Okay. I'm ready," I said.

Dark Magician nodded, accepting my trust in him, and flew us closer to the idly circling dragon. The Blue-Eyes neared and back-winged in front of us, managing something I'm pretty sure dragons aren't supposed to be able to do, and hovered. I gazed into the swirling blue eye nearest to me, and fell into the whirl of Seto's memories once more.

"Check." A hand moved a chess piece, the black knight, into the position to threaten the white king before withdrawing. The man whose hand it was laced his fingers together, propped his elbows on the table, and lowered his chin to rest on the platform he'd made of his hands to smile at his opponent.

Seto, appearing a few years older than he did in the memory with our mom, growled. "That was a sneaky move, Dad!" he accused.

"Of course. Part of chess is to be sneaky. You thought I was going to take your queen with my rook - but that would leave my king open to your next move. You weren't expecting me to go on the attack, right?"

"No, you've been reacting to my moves all game," Seto said.

"Never do what your enemy expects you to do," our Dad advised.

"But, we aren't enemies," Seto replied. His eyes clouded over a little. I was amazed at how much easier it was to read Seto's expressions in these memories. I guessed it made sense - this was when he was young, before all the terrible things happened that changed him so much.

"Well, opponents. Rivals. In chess. Never do what your rival expects you to do. Is that better?"

Seto smiled, then reached his hand forward to make a move of his own. "Check, Dad!"

"What?!" Dad dropped his nonchalant pose, leaned forward, and stared at the board. "You accused _me_ of being sneaky!"

I have a few memories of our Dad of my own. He was tall, and kind. Fiercely proud of Seto whenever Seto brought home a good mark, or ribbon or trophy from school. He was kind toward me, but... well, maybe a bit cool? I knew he loved me, but he never smiled at me the way he did at Seto. Maybe that was because it was my birth that ended Mom's life. I've shied away from thinking about that for a while. That was one good thing, aside from getting us out of the orphanage, perhaps the only good thing, about Gozaburo Kaiba. For a little while, I didn't have to face that perhaps my father hated me a little for costing his wife her life.

But that's my complicated feeling about Dad, not Seto's. It's easy to see that Seto adored our dad, and Dad adored him right back. Dad had dark hair, the same color as my own, and his eyes were a blue a bit darker than Seto's but a bit lighter than mine. He was tall, and I can now tell that Seto's theatrical dueling gestures were borrowed from Dad's expansive gestures while moving his chess pieces. My thoughts about Dad might be conflicted, but Seto's weren't.

"I can see it, Seto. The second Blue-Eyes White Dragon contains your feelings about Dad - our real dad," I said.

The memory faded, and the Shadow Realm asserted itself before my eyes. Dark Magician still held me crooked in his left arm. He pointed with his right hand toward where the second Blue-Eyes White Dragon card floated before us.

"Well done, Mokuba. One more to go," Dark Magician said.

"And, that will help Seto? Once I gather all the cards, he will be okay?" I asked.

Dark Magician shook his head the tiniest bit. "I sense... I think there will be one more task afterward, but the details aren't clear." Another task? I couldn't help but sigh at that. Granted, the last two monsters had not 'attacked' me, but the memories they held, in a way, recognizing those memories was worse than being scared by an attack. "You have nearly completed your task, Mokuba. Do not become discouraged now. I could be wrong, and once you gain the last Blue-Eyes White Dragon your brother will recover."

"I hope so," I said fervently. "Can you tell where it is? The last Blue-Eyes?"

Dark Magician closed his eyes and floated. He turned slowly in the air, turning me with him, as I was still held in his arm. Well, we were still flying, after all. I decided not to think about it. It wasn't as if the Dark Magician were treating me like a child. I fanned the deck of cards between my hands, mentally going over Seto's real deck and hoping like crazy I'd found all of the cards once I gathered the last Blue-Eyes. I already knew what the card would be - it would have to be Seto's feelings about himself. His own card. Dark Magician's suspicion that there was another task bothered me. From what Yugi had told me, duels in the Shadow Realm were dangerous. I really hoped I wouldn't have to duel, although a chance to duel with Seto's deck, just once, would be awesome.

The third Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and the last card of Seto's soul deck that I could gather, bounded over as Dark Magician landed and placed me on my feet. It seemed really happy to see me, and oddly familiar, but not in the same way that Big Brother is familiar. It was almost as if we were long-lost friends, and our meeting together completed... The expected whirling of my senses came and went and I was looking at...

Me. It had to be. Seto was young again, standing on his tip-toes as he balanced himself against the side of a wooden crib. I looked into the crib myself and felt like staggering. It has to be me, the tiny infant wrapped in a blanket and staring so solemnly up at his big brother.

"He's so tiny, Dad. Without Mom..." Seto's voice choked up with tears.

"It won't be easy, but I know we can take care of little Mokuba ourselves. Would you like to hold him?" Seto nodded. "Go and sit in the chair and I'll bring him to you."

Seto obeyed and a moment later Dad deposited the baby Mokuba in his arms. It's strange and oddly painful to watch how both of them smiled at the infant, despite all my birth had cost them. "He smells nice. Clean," Seto said.

"Yes he does. He's going to need our love and care, even more now because we have to love him enough to..." Dad stopped talking.

"We have to love him enough to show him how much Mom would have loved him, too, right Dad?" Seto whispered.

Dad nodded. "Yes, that's it. Little Mokuba needs a lot of love from us."

"Nothing will ever hurt him!" Seto said fiercely. "He's my little brother and anyone who wants to hurt him will hafta go through me!"

"That's the spirit, Seto!" Dad approved. "But for now, I think Mokuba needs sleep. Babies are kinda boring the first few months - at least you were, sleeping all the time!" Dad teased as he picked the baby up from Seto's arms and placed him back in the crib.

"Hey!" Seto protested.

"Let him sleep and I'll show you how to make a bottle for him when he wakes up," Dad said.

The memory faded. I shook my head, not believing that to Seto, his feelings about me were...

A new memory sparked up. Seto standing on a stool to make a sandwich to share with a toddler Mokuba... Then, watching the school play I was in seated in the front row so I knew he was there... Chasing off the bullies in the orphanage who tormented me... Observing my first presentation to the Kaiba Corporation executives... Clapping his hand on my back when I finally figured out the computer program he'd been trying to teach me. It hit me then. Big Brother had always taken care of me, but not only that, he was proud of me. It had been a little rough there for a while, when Seto was so driven to succeed that he'd become so cold and - distant, even to me, and I guess that evil that Yami mentioned had started taking over his soul, but Seto had rarely ever been impatient with me. He not only loved me, he was fond of me.

He _liked_ me.

Otherwise, his feelings about me wouldn't be the third Blue-Eyes White Dragon. He loved me as much as he loved our parents. I wasn't just some burden he'd been forced to take because I was his brother, he never saw me that way.

"Big Brother," I said aloud. "I - I will never forget this. I 'spose 'we will never speak of it again'," I quoted one of Seto's most common lines whenever he was confronted with things he'd rather not acknowledge openly. "but I will never forget that you - to you I am as important as a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and not just because you have to care, but because you _want_ to."

"It is as I suspected," Dark Magician said. I blinked my eyes, becoming aware of the Shadow Realm once more. Dark Magician nodded toward where the card floated, waiting for me to gather it.

"I'm confused," I said, while reaching toward the card. "If the third Blue-Eyes represents Big Brother's feelings for me, what Duel Monster contains his feelings about himself?"

"I suspect that while Seto identifies with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon on a conscious level, subconsciously he realizes that no one card can contain all of his self-identification. All the cards you gathered are part of it, and there is so much more that isn't contained in the deck," Dark Magician said.

"You mean I haven't gathered it all? There's more I need...?"

"No, you could spend you entire life trying to gather bits and pieces of Seto's feelings and never get them all. What you have gathered is the core, the most important parts, and once they are together, they will attract and instantly gather the rest," Dark Magician told me.

"I better get this last card, then," I said. The card that represented Seto's feelings about me. I couldn't process what it meant that he would entrust those feelings to a Blue-Eyes White Dragon card - that I meant that much to him, as much as his memories of our parents. When I touched the card with a trembling hand, all hell broke loose.

* * *

Author's note –

Its the Shadow Realm (and a situation revolving around spirits), of course Dark Magician showed up to lend a hand!


	5. Chapter 5

**Crisis**

"AH, HAH, HAH!" A voice boomed suddenly, and lightning tore into the ground. "You've gathered the pieces, but they will never be whole again! I will see to it!"

"Swords of Revealing Light!" Dark Magician called out. The spell effect rained down, freezing the giant scary man in place.

"Who is that?!" I demanded. "What is going on?!"

"Do not panic, Mokuba. As I suspected, there is one more task for you to do. Think: why would Seto's soul have sundered in the first place? He hasn't suffered a mind crush, or had his spirit displaced, or his actions possessed in quite a while. Why would his soul shatter now?"

"Yami mentioned that Seto was weakened toward spiritual attacks because of his mind crush," I said.

"Indeed. But Seto has not been attacked in such a way - externally."

"I think I see. So, Big Brother has been - he's been worrying about it, hasn't he? And he is Big Brother so he didn't ask anyone for help, he's been trying to solve the problem all by himself, and..."

"That monster looks like Anubis, the last one to tread unbidden upon Seto's spirit. Seto, to his credit, had the strength to fight against the real Anubis' influence, and in that way prevent the destruction of the world, but the effort took a toll on him. He's been attacked this way many times before, and spiritual attacks are not something he has any defenses against. That Anubis," Dark Magician pointed with the tip of his staff. "is the embodiment of Seto's fear that he is weak in this way to spiritual attacks. You must help Seto conquer this fear so that he has the courage to assemble his soul once more and go forward from here."

"How...? I'm just a little kid!" I fanned Seto's deck between my hands, in the images on the face of the cards seeing flashes of the memories I'd witnessed. "Even with this - how can I fight Seto's fear for him?"

"That is where I can help." Dark Magician took the cards from my hands. He bent his head over them, whispering words in a language I didn't understand before straightening, lifting both hands up with all the cards fanned between them, and shouting, "Incarnate!"

Suddenly, all the monsters of Seto's spirit deck appeared surrounding us. I shook my head. "It's not enough! Big Brother told me - it took the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon's sacrifice to beat Anubis last time - the Blue-Eyes White Dragons aren't strong enough!"

"Mokuba," Dark Magician said. "I told you not to panic. That isn't Anubis, it's the embodiment of Seto's soul-shattering fear. It is not part of his soul that he wants or needs. Surely you've seen it enough, whenever Yugi and Yami, or Yugi and his friends combine their efforts, they can save the world. The power of friendship is a part of the power of Unity. As deep as friendship is, there is a power, that in this case, is even deeper. It is the power you share with your brother."

"The power of family. Yeah."

"Seto needs to be reminded that no matter what, he doesn't have to fight alone. He has never been comfortable asking for help from friends, but you..."

"I'm too young and weak. Or, that's how Seto sees me," I said bitterly.

"You know that's not true. He sees you as strong as a Blue-Eyes White Dragon," Dark Magician said, nodding his helmeted head toward the Duel Monster.

"His memories of me are that, not his vision of me."

"Mokuba." Now I see that steely-eyed glare turned my way. Dark Magician glaring is daunting in the extreme. "We cannot afford for both Kaiba brothers to doubt themselves, not if we are to save Seto!"

Yes, there is that. No matter my feelings about myself, or what I think Big Brother must feel about me, rather than his memories of me, I will do anything to save Seto. Even if it means...

"What do I have to do?"

"Hmm." Dark Magician supported his left elbow in his right hand, lifted his arm, and dropped his chin against his left fist. I wondered how he managed to do all that without hitting himself in the head with his staff until I realized it was still pointed at Seto's embodied fear, floating on its own in the air. "That is a conundrum. Although... Yes, I think it will work. It might be a bit much, but you are stronger than you give yourself credit for." He stared at me while ideas flashed behind his gaze. "And I am right here if an extraction becomes necessary. Seto himself set all the pieces in place, it is best to follow through with the logic he has established."

"Uhm?"

"Do not fear, young Kaiba. You will help your brother directly, according to the pattern he created. I will do all I can to help as well. For now, you must become one with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon that Seto has entrusted with his memories of you."

"Wha...?!" Magic swept over me, flaring out from Dark Magician's hands. He's never going to have to worry that this duelist, if I can be labeled such, will ever forget that he is much more than just a Duel Monster after this. Suddenly, I was on all fours and my balance was very strange. I did something, there was a rustle behind me, and my balance settled a bit better.

"Mokuba, you are taking the form of Seto's favorite Duel Monster, and using the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's attacks, but it is truly Seto's own soul energy that you are using, along with your own, to battle this foe. You are no mere Duel Monster - you are the Blue-Eyes Mokuba Dragon and you alone can use the energy of Seto's soul to conquer this fear for him. Think of yourself as a dragon, the potent Blue-Eyes, and unleash your attack on your brother's foe! Lead the attack to take the Fear-Anubis down!"

The freeze effect of Swords of Revealing Light ended, and the monster that contained Seto's fear started to laugh again. "You think you can stop me? I broke Kaiba with simply my presence in his soul. Now that I am free to roam the Shadow Realm you think you have the power to stop me?"

I roared, screaming Seto's name in the cry of the dragon, and charged forward. Joined with the powerful feelings of love, affection, and simple liking that Seto honored me with by solidifying into a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, my hatred for the fear that broke his spirit manifested as his favorite Duel Monster's White Lightning Attack. I didn't simply rear back to spit it at our foe, though. I intended to continue my charge to bite and claw and rake the fear monster until it stopped moving if need be. The other two dragons, and all the monsters of Seto's soul deck followed, evidently taking their cue from me.

"Puny child," Anubis said. "You are filled with such fear I need expend only the smallest effort to defeat you." He flicked a finger at me. I slammed backwards as if hit by a wrecking ball, my dragon-breath attack raking the sky where it briefly tore apart the darkness of the Shadow Realm. Another gesture, another crushing, slamming force, and my consciousness faded to black.

* * *

Author's note –

Uh-oh!


	6. Chapter 6

**Regrouping**

I curled up around my misery upon waking, not caring at all where I was or what happened to me now. I didn't defeat the fear that had harmed Seto, and I couldn't do anything to save him. Better for me to remain here, falling victim to a monster attack in the Shadow Realm or wherever I was now, than to return to the real world and have to face it when Seto died. "I failed!"

"Only the first round," a voice noted. _Dark Magician?_

"Where are we?" Curiosity got the best of me and I uncurled from my grieving to stand up. "Wow, this place is even bleaker than the Shadow Realm!" It was. There were tombstones everywhere, and shadowy, translucent figures flitting among them.

"The card graveyard, and yes it is bleak, but you won't be here for long. You didn't fail, Mokuba. You just didn't have enough power directly under your control to work. Fortunately, I have the means to remedy that situation." Dark Magician held up a card - Monster Reborn. "I wanted to make certain you had taken no lasting harm from the backlash that sent you here before returning you to battle. I also wanted to tell you that you will succeed. I have faith in you, but more than that, Seto has faith in you."

"But, I failed. My attack didn't even reach that - that monster!" I replied. "He said I had too much fear."

"Mokuba." I expected to look up and see Dark Magician glaring at me again. It wasn't a glare on his face, though. It was a fierce expression, but I could tell it was to encourage me. "Fear lies. It has no power other than what the frightened give to it. Most of the time the dark is just the dark and contains no monsters. It is only our fear that tells us otherwise, that makes us think there are monsters and it's best to do nothing because we might fail. Did you feel fear when you attacked?"

I thought back. "No, there wasn't any fear."

"I know. If there was, you wouldn't have been able to attack. You did, it was just not powerful enough and the fear deflected it. Your brother's soul entrusted the means to bring you back into my hands, whether that was his intention or not, but it is my skills, as a spirit sorcerer that can give you the power you need."

"Making me the dragon again?" I asked.

"Indeed. But not just the dragon - the ultimate dragon. The three biggest and most important pieces of your brother's soul - I believe you have the strength and the purity of will to use that power, Mokuba."

"I - I have to save my brother!"

"Hold on to that determination, Mokuba. That is what you need to defeat Seto's fear." Dark Magician disappeared. I wondered how long it would be before some of the floating ghosts noticed and came after me, but mentally stomped on the thought. I could tell that was part of the fear. I knew Dark Magician wouldn't leave me here for long...

"...born!" Suddenly I was merged into the fierce and tender feelings I knew Seto held for me, again. I braced myself on all fours and swung my head around to view the field. Vorse Raider and the Luster Dragon were tag-teaming Anubis, keeping the fear-monster off-balance. All of the Duel Monsters that I knew were shards of Seto's soul were attacking and so far, none had been defeated. After a moment I could tell why. Led by the Luster Dragon they were using hit and run tactics. None of their attacks would take Anubis down, but that wasn't their intent. They were delaying the monster and keeping it at bay.

"They won't be able to remain safe for much longer. Already your foe begins to learn their patterns. Only you, Blue-Eyes Mokuba, will have the power to defeat him," Dark Magician said. He lowered his head toward his chest, and brought his hands together in a ritualized shape. I could see the effort of whatever magic he was trying to shape in how the plates of his shoulder armor shook, and the beads of sweat dripping from his face.

He threw his arms up and shouted a few syllables imploringly up toward the sky. Only then did I realize he must have been chanting for some time. Golden energy swept down in a wave around him. Dark Magician gathered that golden energy in the arc of his arms, and flung it outward, toward me. Before it swept over me, I watched as it engulfed the other two Blue-Eyes White Dragons, the ones who represented Seto's feelings for our mom and dad. It washed over me, and power, even greater than that of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, flooded me.

"Is this - our son?" A gentle hand tousled my hair.

"Indeed he is, growing into a fine young man." I knew this voice - these voices!

"Mom?! Dad?!"

"Shh, Mokuba. There's no need to panic. We are here to help you," my father replied.

"Help me? And, where is here?" I looked around. It was white and gold, but shifting and hard to see. Features flicked in and out of being, or maybe it was my eyesight that was making it seem like there was nothing that was really _real_.

"A special spiritual place where we can meet, unify our purpose, and save Seto."

"But - who - what - are you?"

The woman, who looked like Seto's memories of our mother, smiled. "There's no time for explanations, and even if there were, there's not much we are permitted to say. I am your mother, Mokuba, and this is your father. Seto's feelings for us are strong enough that we were able to respond to the call to come here and help you to help him."

"We are a family, Mokuba, and Seto, one of the members of our family, needs our help. There is no force on earth that can stop the love of family," Dad added. "It falls to you, my son, to save Seto, but your mother and I will help."

"Mom! Dad!"

It seemed as though they came forward, in that strange, light-filled place, and hugged me. Mom first, wrapping her arms around me, her kiss pressing against my forehead, and then my Dad's arms sweeping around her and me, the almost forgotten scent of his aftershave bringing my mind back to far happier times.

And I was there, on the field, all four feet planted on the ground as the remnants of magic swirled away from me. There were no voices, not even thoughts that weren't my own, but I knew, somehow, that Mom and Dad were with me, that the power of Seto's soul that had appeared in the shape of the other two Blue-Eyes White Dragons was now mine to control.

I didn't bugle this time. I didn't roar. I looked up, directly into the blood-red, insane eyes of Anubis, the fear that had hurt Seto made manifest in the Shadow Realm and said, "You end here. You will trouble my brother no more."

Out of the corner of my left-most eye (for I somehow managed to keep track of the three sets of eyes I now possessed) I noticed that Dark Magician gestured. Led by the Luster Dragon, the rest of the lesser Duel Monsters signifying parts of Seto's soul fell back to a place of relative safety.

"Oh? I defeated you once. What makes you think you can take me on again?"

"Look closer, monster of fear," Dark Magician called. "Mokuba's heart is resolute, proof against your assault, and he has more power than before. Before you is the Blue-Eyes Mokuba Ultimate Dragon - the entirety of Seto's family, come to defeat you once and for all."

The fear-monster turned and tried to run. My left head, I had the briefest sense of Dad's cologne, sent a stream of White Lightning to cut off the escape route. Anubis twisted and tried to go to his left. A gentle amusement, reminding me of Mom calling Seto 'her young dragon' in the memory I was privileged to witness accompanied the second blocking wave of destruction. Cornered, Anubis turned his head to stare into my eyes, the set in the middle. He changed then, becoming even less human-seeming and even more monstrous.

"How can you think to stand against me, little boy?"

"How dare you trouble my big brother? You are nothing! Seto! I'm here! If you can hear me - listen. No matter what, I have your back. This is just fear; it's not real. I'm not going to let the fear win and take you away from me, Big Brother! Now that I know it's there, it can never hurt you again, because I'm not - ever - going to let it win!" I shouted, hoping that Seto could hear and understand me. "Leave him alone! Go away!" I spit my own breath weapon at the fear-monster. The other two streams of lightning one from the left and one from the right joined and twisted along with my attack, driving forward until they blasted together on the monstrous Anubis. A flash of light brighter than any I had yet seen blinded me and threw me to the ground.

Gentle hands on my shoulders helped me up. "Mom? Dad?" I could feel that I was only myself again, that is, a boy instead of a dragon.

"No, Mokuba. It is just me." Dark Magician stood up. "I guess my Spirit Call spell worked, if your parents were there to help you."

"I - I got to see them... Really, not just memories?" I asked. I wasn't sure what was real and what wasn't anymore.

"It is best to say that the spirits of your parents helped you to control the power that saved Seto," Dark Magician replied carefully. "As to what is real and what is not, this is the Shadow Realm and it is very hard to tell the difference."

"So, Seto is...?"

Dark Magician nodded gravely, but smiled. He gestured to show that we were the only ones around. No Duel Monsters, no Blue-Eyes White Dragons, not even spirit cards. "Seto's soul coalesced and returned to the proper place, housed within and invigorating his body. Already his physical condition is 'miraculously' improving."

I rushed forward in a wild impulse to embrace even though I knew I could only reach the knees of the towering Duel Monster, but by the time I got there, quick as it was, Dark Magician had knelt to receive me in his arms. I'd rather be hugging Mom or Dad, or especially Seto, but my relief was so great that I had to hug someone, and Dark Magician would do. Well, more than do - he really had helped me, and I knew there is no way I could ever repay him for that.

"Thank you!" I felt and heard a sob catch in my throat.

"You are most welcome, Mokuba. It was my honor to assist you in your worthy quest. Perhaps it is best if I signal my masters that you are successful, and ready to return." Dark Magician squeezed a bit tighter before releasing his embrace, standing up, and setting his hands lightly on my shoulders.

"Dark Magician?"

"Mmm?"

"Why did you help me? I mean, Seto is always trying to defeat Yugi, and trash talks Yami, and I've lost count of the number of times he's sent you to the card graveyard in duels... And now I know how absolutely scary a place that is..."

Dark Magician smiled. "I know Seto struggles with truths that are more mystical in origin. I fondly recall a time when his spirit was more acquainted with mystical dealings. He and I used to stand side by side to protect our pharaoh. We didn't see eye to eye on many things, but I still considered him a friend." Dark Magician answered then stared into the distance pensively. He refocused his gaze on my face. "And then there is you, Mokuba. I know that your loyalty to and bond with your brother drives you, but both my masters value your friendship. Watching your efforts to save your brother today proved to me that you are worthy of that regard from them - and from me."

I stared up at the tall Duel Monster for a long moment. "Seto's an idiot for not having a Dark Magician card in his deck," I said.

Dark Magician grinned at that. "Well, yes, but there's nothing to say that you must follow that example. I must always be present when one of my masters summons me in a duel, but if I were not already occupied, and you were to play my card, even though you might not realize it, such an action could well summon me." Dark Magician considered for a moment before clarifying. "That is my spirit would be aware and, even though you might not notice it, I would actually be there. I like watching duels."

"But..."

"Your questing mind reminds me of my friend from long ago, who is now your brother. It would not be right for me to divulge everything about us Shadow Monsters to you, nor would it be right for me to keep you from your brother to do so. I enjoy watching and participating in duels for many worthy duelists, and you would be one of them if you so wished. All you need to do is add a Dark Magician card to your deck."

All of a sudden, I felt a weird pulling sensation, the opposite of the pushing sensation I felt before.

"Ah, my masters have discerned your success, or reached the limits of their mystical power. Either way, it is time for you to go. I shouldn't have to tell you, but it would be best not to trouble Seto with acknowledging spiritual matters that make him uncomfortable," Dark Magician suggested.

"Yeah, I know. Dark Magician... Thank you!" I felt myself fading, almost as if I were losing consciousness, or falling into one of Big Brother's memory streams again.

"You are welcome, young Mokuba. Until we meet again."

* * *

Author's note –

It's hard to find canon information about Seto and Mokuba's real parents, so I hope my version seems plausible.


	7. Chapter 7

**Recovery**

For what I hoped to be the final time, if not ever, at least for today, I opened my eyes to find myself in a different place. This one was familiar, and welcome, after the trip to the Shadow Realm. Yugi's concerned gaze cleared and he smiled. "Mokuba! You are back, and unharmed. You are unharmed, right?" I nodded, accepting his hand to sit up from the couch. "We can talk later, you and me, and Yami, if you want, about all that happened, but for now, we know that Seto's okay, Roland called, and he's sending the limo to pick you up." Before Yugi could take a breath the front buzzer rang, or well, buzzed, I guess. "Oops! That's gotta be the car - you better get going, but call later, okay?"

Yugi didn't have to encourage me toward the door, I was two steps ahead of him the entire way. "Yugi - thank you, so much, and say thanks to Yami for me, too!" I waved, or at least I meant to, but I couldn't seem to stop my feet from running through the door, down the walk and into the limousine that was double parked with the engine running right outside the door to the game shop.

I almost felt as though I might be able to beat the limo if I got out and ran I was so eager to get home. I still wondered if I'd found all the pieces. Would Seto be okay if I missed even one? I know that Dark Magician said we did everything right, and he is a magician who's got some sort of special magic dealing with spirits, I'd had a first-hand encounter with that, but... I fretted. I worried. I felt...

No! I was not going to be afraid, not after all I'd done to stop what the fear had done to Seto. I had done everything correctly! Big Brother was going to be okay! If he wasn't for some strange reason, I would march on back to the game shop and demand that Yami send me back so I could give that magician of his a piece of my mind for doing such a shoddy job... I laughed. The driver glanced at me through the rear view mirror so I stopped, but I couldn't help it. Give Dark Magician a piece of my mind - wasn't that why there had been a problem in the first place? Silly expression, if you ask me.

They were waiting for me, the servants were. The limousine hadn't quite stopped before I opened the door and dashed up the stairs of the mansion. The servant at the door opened it so I could run through without even breaking my stride. I flew up the stairs to the personal rooms as fast as I could. The door to Seto's suite was open, so I ran in, and ran halfway toward his bed, where I just knew he still was before my brain took in the fact I wasn't alone. Roland sat in a chair set at the side of Seto's bed. One look at his face and I could tell he hadn't slept well since Seto had fallen into his coma, either. I hadn't been able to appreciate that before. Roland probably had no idea he was the Lord of Dragons in Seto's spiritual deck, with the special ability to protect dragons, but I knew - and I knew how appropriate that honor was for him.

"Roland, I..." I gasped.

"Later, Mokuba. Your brother needs you now." The faithful bodyguard stood up, and patted my shoulder before leaving the room and closing the door behind himself.

Weird that I should feel a tiny bit - scared. Hadn't I convinced myself that I did everything I could and that Seto would be okay? I couldn't help but feel anxious as I walked toward his bed and looked down. It had been so horrible to see him so still for so many days.

I instantly noticed the difference. Seto's eyes were closed, but there was just this - well, energy that had been missing before. He wasn't moving anymore than he had when he was comatose, but I could tell he wasn't in that awful state any longer; I could tell he wasn't even sleeping. He was just resting his eyes. Well, it made sense. It's not like he, well, his spirit had been resting during that time, either. I wondered how much, if anything, he'd remember - his spirit had been pulled into pieces after all. Maybe he had amnesia. That would suck for him, I know that Seto would hate to have missing memories, and maybe that's why he's resting his eyes.

"Seto! I'm so glad you are awake!"

"Mokuba," Seto said my name, with a slight edge in his voice, as he opened his eyes and glared at me. He sat up and scooted back until he was supported by the headboard. "If you are going to let me sleep in so long, the least you can do is be on hand when I wake up so I can yell at you."

My mouth fell open. "Really? _Really?!_ After all the worry I'd been through, after all the trouble of going to the Shadow Realm - the Shadow Realm, Big Brother! - to gather up the missing bits and pieces of _your_ soul, you have the gall to yell at me for not being here when you finally decided to stop worrying me like an idiot and wake up?!"

Seto's eyes twinkled at me, and that wonderful smile, the one I saw when he smiled at our mother in his memory, lit up his face. "You didn't let me finish, Little Brother. I wanted to yell at you for putting yourself in danger just to save me."

Wait a minute! "You know? You remember?!"

Seto raised his right hand to his temple and closed his eyes briefly. "Not all of it, for which I suppose I must be grateful." He sighed. "But I have pieces of memories of you gathering my most precious memories in your hands and taking care of them." Seto opened his arms, inviting me in for a hug, a truly rare thing. I climbed up the side of the bed into his arms, wrapped my arms around his neck, and squeezed gently tight. This is the hug I wanted more than any other. This moment reassured me that Big Brother really was okay - that I hadn't missed anything - that I'd gotten it right.

"We have a lot to talk about, Mokuba. I'm starving, so Roland is getting something for me to eat. Fetch my robe, and we can talk over there." Seto pointed toward the sitting room just off his bedroom. By the time I'd gotten the robe from the wardrobe, Roland had returned with the tray for Seto. At an unspoken command, conveyed with a glance, Roland took up a position inside the room guarding the door against interruptions.

"So, tell me all about it," Seto commanded. He was wolfing down french toast as fast as - well, as fast as Joey, which wasn't at all characteristic for Seto, but then again, he hadn't eaten anything solid in over a week.

"Big Brother, it's all..." I didn't want to trouble him. I didn't want him to get cranky that Yugi and Yami had been involved, and that it was all about spiritual things and magic.

Seto set his plate to one side and leaned forward to pin me with his special Big Brother Glare. Yeah, I've seen the look enough to have named it, and know what it does. It makes me do what he says, or at least that's what he wants it to do, but I thought perhaps, this time I better resist it. Seto changed his tactic. "Mokuba, even when I am incapacitated, you are still my little brother, still my responsibility, and I care for you. Always. I need to know - everything - that happened, no matter how uncomfortable you think it might make me, to make certain that nothing bad happened to you."

"But, it's all spiritual stuff and magic and..." I protested weakly.

"Mokuba, you already let slip that you had to go to the Shadow Realm. What could be harder for me to stomach than that?" Seto sighed.

I clapped my hands over my mouth, and replayed every minute and every word since I entered the room. "Oh, I, uhm, didn't say those things just in my head, huh? When you said you wanted to yell at me?"

"You most certainly did not. Do me a favor, stop with the dithering, and tell me about it already!" Seto sent a half-hearted glare my way, then picked up his plate and started digging in again.

"Well, uhm, after we, that is, Roland and me, did everything we could think of, what with doctors and all, and... Well, it wasn't good... The prognosis, I think is the word the doctors used..."

"Roland told me how dire the situation was, Mokuba. What I don't know is what you decided to do about it," Seto mumbled around a mouthful of food.

Oh, that might be why he wanted me to talk now while he was eating, so he could sort of hide behind his food, and not have to react to anything I say. Okay, Big Brother, perhaps I understand a few things about you a bit better than before.

"I went to Yugi." Seto started. "Yes, Big Brother, Yugi. When weird things happen, he seems to have a way to make sense of them."

"Must be that weird hairstyle of his. Go on," Seto urged.

So, I explained it to Seto. All of it. Well, skipping over the bits of conversation with Yami and Yugi that he wouldn't have liked, the part about him being weakened toward spiritual attacks, but Big Brother's eyes gleamed when I told him I'd given Yami a black eye.

He'd finished eating and put his plate down on the side table by the time I'd gotten up to the Shadow Realm. He nodded his approval for the protected path that Yami and Yugi had somehow made for me. I couldn't help but glance over toward Roland when I got to the part about the Lord of Dragons, so I caught the slight twitch of his mustache that usually indicated he was trying not to smile.

"Seto, I - want to ask you something. You see, the Blue-Eyes White Dragons, they held the really important feelings and memories. The first one..."

"Mom," Seto said. "You want to ask about Mom."

"I'm sorry for - well, for peeking into those memories, I guess. You really loved her. Was she, in reality, was she the way she is - in your memories?" I had to know.

Seto reached over and tousled my hair. It hit me then. He always tousled my hair when he was pleased with me. From him, the gesture was an unspoken 'I love you' and he learned it, when he was a child, from Mom.

"She really was like that. Yes, I love her, and I adored her, but she really was kind, and beautiful, and I'm so very sorry you never had a chance to meet her, Mokuba," Seto replied quietly.

"Well, I sort of did, in your memories. And, in a way, the way you are toward me, that's sort of like Mom, too."

Seto smiled. "A big brother can't replace a mother, but he can try to the best of his ability to fill the void."

"Uhm, the next Blue-Eyes was..."

"Dad. But you know that's how he was. I'm recalling dim memories of his lessons in chess."

"Yeah, that's what I saw. Maybe the very first one."

"What's troubling you, Mokuba?" Darn his big brother sense!

"Dad was always so pleased with you, when you did well in school, and that chess tournament you won. He never... He never looked at me that way. I've been... I haven't had to face it for years, but I think perhaps Dad - hated me - for Mom. He always seemed to have such a stern expression around me."

Seto shook his head. "No, Mokuba, you are seeing it all wrong. Dad always felt that it was a tragedy that you would never know Mom the way we did. He didn't hate you - he always felt sorry that you never got to know her. He told me not to tease you too much, when we were little, even though that's what big brothers often do. He told me that he needed me to be nice to you, because whenever I was nice to you, I was passing on those times that Mom was nice to me. You see? He never hated you."

I didn't know what to say. It was like I was meeting my own family for the first time through Seto's words. I guess in a way I was. I certainly had an image of Mom now, that I didn't have before.

"By the time you got to the last Blue-Eyes White Dragon, I had a pretty decent sort of awareness. Still disjointed, and sort of like I was sleepwalking, but I know who the last dragon represented," Seto said.

I couldn't help but blush at that. "Me. Why would you have a Blue-Eyes for your memories of me?!" I demanded loudly.

"Why not? 'Cause you are important to me, Mokuba!" Seto yelled.

"Boys. Keep it to a dull roar, please!" Roland called from his position by the door. Chastened, both of us nodded, before realizing that it had been a long time since we last heard that command, and trading glances, started to laugh. It had been years since Roland last dared to address Seto with anything other than a helpful suggestion, certainly not an out-and-out command like that.

"Well, you were getting loud," Roland muttered, which only caused us to laugh harder.

"You've omitted the Dark Magician's involvement in the whole thing, Mokuba," Seto told me, once we had settled down.

"Yeah, well, he's... It was magic, you see, and... You hate magic!" I blurted out.

"Yeah, well, there's magic and there's magic. That nonsense that Wheeler pulls with his Time Wizard is a pain in my ass, and all that crap about destiny that that idiot Isis woman wanted me to follow - that's the sucker end of it." Seto looked down at the floor for a very long moment. "I'll admit it this once, and only to you (and our sharp-eared bodyguard over by the door there) that there's another sort of magic. Yeah, the heart of the cards - the way Yugi has it, and the way it works for me. I can't say I don't believe in such things, knowing that you were basically gathering cards one at a time to recover my soul. I've suspected magic is behind quite a lot of what we've been through, and that you did the right thing, obviously, by seeking the help of 'professionals'. If you hadn't, well, I doubt I'd be breathing on my own right now, if at all."

"I had Dark Magician's help, Big Brother. In the Shadow Realm, when even Yami and Yugi's protected path couldn't help me anymore."

Seto gave me a very sour look at that. "Yes, I'll admit I have some awareness of that one's help as well."

"Seto! He really did help! And he really does seem to care. Not just because of Yami and Yugi, but because of... Well, other considerations." I finished weakly. Yeah, didn't Dark Magician himself tell me that Seto wasn't comfortable with this aspect of their shared past? I'm an idiot for even indirectly bringing it up.

"He's the signature card of my greatest rival, Mokuba," Seto told me with a deceptive mildness. Yeah, I've learned not to trust that quiet tone.

"Yami said something similar about you. I don't get it."

Seto quirked a smile. "You will, someday." He stared at me for a long moment with an expression even I couldn't figure out. "Roland, bring me the silver case." Roland didn't seem to mind that Seto didn't use the word 'please' and brought the metal case holding the rarer of Seto's excess Duel Monsters cards from its spot in Seto's giant walk-in closet. While Roland held the case flat against his hands, Seto thumbed the combination wheels, opened the clasps and rummaged in the case for a moment. He brought out a Dark Magician card, a twin to Yugi's own card, and handed it to me before closing the case and nodding that Roland could return it to the closet.

"Realize if you play this card against me in duels, Mokuba, I'll target it and take it out first - though it might be good for me if you have a Dark Magician in your deck. If you design your deck to support this monster, it would give me practice for my duels with Yugi."

"Seto!" I protested, almost automatically. I can tell it then. Seto truly is back to normal. He's going to snark at Yugi and continue their rivalry as if nothing happened. I guess, in a way, that's what Yugi, or at least Yami, expected. That's why he said he'd help me, just so he wouldn't lose Seto as his rival. It is an antagonistic sort of friendship. Then again, except for me, Big Brother is rather antagonistic toward everybody, so I guess it's the only way he can even have friends. I noticed I was tracing the edge of the card with my finger. Friends, huh? "Why don't you ever use a Dark Magician card, Seto? I've seen how powerful and versatile he is in duels."

Seto smirked at the pronoun I used. "Two reasons: it _is_ the signature card of my bitter rival. You know how I feel about anyone other than me playing a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I respect Yugi too much to put him through that ignominy."

I blinked at him. Respect? That wasn't what I was expecting. "And the other reason?" I asked softly. Maybe it had something to do with why Dark Magician helped me in the first place.

Seto stared at me, then at the wall, then at the floor, picking at the edge of his robe and other such nervous and reluctant tells for so long that I was sure he wouldn't answer. He finally did. "It's respect, too. For him - the priest who became the card. There was a time... I have memories..." Seto closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. "Without accepting it as proof of anything... Anything other than what I admitted today..." He said fiercely. "I somehow know the man behind the card. And there is - was - a kinship of purpose between us. Out of respect for that man, I would never think of ordering him around in a game, using a card that bore his resemblance. Sometimes I wonder at Yami's cruelty in treating him so."

I thought back to the moment when I had the power to launch an attack at the fear that had so hurt my big brother. True, I had initiated the action, but even if someone else had 'commanded' me to, it would still be satisfying to help. Maybe that was why Dark Magician helped me find the shards of Seto's soul. Sure, to help Seto, who he admitted he'd known in the past even if Seto never really would, but, maybe - no, not maybe. He'd told me, if I added a Dark Magician card to my deck, he liked watching duels. He liked helping. "It's not cruelty, Big Brother. I think - Yami understands that Dark Magician likes to help."

"Hmph."

I grinned. Yeah, Seto was back to normal. All grumbly and grumpy and not wanting to see anything good about his rival. He then shocked me with that awesome smile of his again, and reached forward to tousle my hair.

"My memories are weird, disjointed, and dream-like, but I can tell you, Little Brother, that the Blue-Eyes Mokuba Dragon is second only to the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Mokuba Dragon of every dragon, including every other version of the Blue-Eyes, that I've ever seen. Someday you are going to have to tell me exactly what that felt like."

"Even if I have to talk about magic?" I asked wickedly.

Seto tousled my hair a bit more fiercely. "Even if. I'm sure when you talk about magic, and," Seto rolled his eyes. "'the heart of the cards' it is the sort of magic that I might be willing to admit, under duress mind you, that could perhaps possibly be real."

"Mom and Dad helped," I said. Drat Seto's sharp hearing that he caught that. I hadn't really meant to say it at all.

"Oh?"

Seto's expression is open, not skeptical. Maybe it's a result of conquering the fear. Maybe he's still a bit off-balance from just waking up from his coma, or maybe, just maybe, even though I'm the little brother, he's come to respect me, even just a little, too. "I think it was something Dark Magician did, but not as the Dark Magician. He used to be a spirit magician..."

"Spirit sorcerer," Seto corrected me. I grinned. Oh, yes, he recalled more about their 'shared' past' than he was willing to admit, and I'd just caught him out on it. "Yeah, laugh it up later, Mokuba. Go on."

"Well... After the first attack, that the Anubis fear-monster deflected, I found myself..."

-the end-


End file.
